Category Archives: Menu Planning

Menu Planning Monday

Posted on by
Reply

This week is back to the normal busy routine. The weather is turning cooler so I am starting adding a soup day to most weeks. The challenge for the next two weeks is to use the groceries we have on hand and make a good list of items needed  on the first of October. I currently sit at $306 spent on groceries and that included buying a gallon of milk for this week.

Check out this awesome list of ways to use food and not waste, written by a friend of mine.

Now on to the menu plan

Breakfast– French toast, toast with new jelly, yogurt,  cereal, poptarts, grits or donuts at least for Monday and Tuesday. . Zach has been grabbing applesauce or canned fruit for breakfast as well.  Sunday morning- Breakfast Omelet

Lunch- For some odd reason, we have one Lunchable left in the fridge but no one wanted it this week. Lunches were all planned and mostly packed on Sunday. Our lunches include homemade chicken dunks, tomato, ranch and cheese, sandwiches one day, and a “grab day” which means crackers for most. I am going to take leftovers and Matt is eating these as well.

Dinner–Things are going really well with me arriving at home  for dinner most nights of the week.

Saturday- Lunch: McDonalds (profits from yard sale) .   Dinner- Hamburger Helper (we had the meat left from Thursday, we ended up eating our leftovers from Olive Garden).

Sunday- Lunch- My parents   Dinner-Pepper Steak using fresh peppers!

Monday- Rice Creola
Tuesday- Tomato Soup and Tomato/Basil Drop Biscuits
Wednesday-Salisbury steak, rice, green beans and fruit.
Thursday-  Coconut Shrimp
Friday- Chicken Broccoli Casserole

It just occurred to me that we are have rice three times this week. Matt loves it so I don’t think he will mind.

Monday Menu Plan

Posted on by
Reply

We are half way through the month and actually on budget in all areas, as you read yesterday!  This is really the most challenging part of the month for me. We are out of a couple of breakfast foods that are a frequent easy fix and with money left in the budget, I want to just go pick up. But instead we are going to try and use what we have and make sure we stay in budget.  I was out of town last Friday and most of the day Saturday, so things were a little bit different. This week it is back to the usually with an activity every night of the week except Tuesday and our yard sale next Saturday.

Breakfast– French toast, toast with new jelly, yogurt,  cereal, poptarts or grits. Zach has been grabbing applesauce or canned fruit for breakfast as well. Keeping it simple this week!  , Sunday morning- Sausage crescent rolls

Lunch- We are down to our last 3 days of Lunchable this week. Kendall was excited to be able to take chicken nugget two days, Zach decided on a sandwich one day and chicken nuggets one day and Lily has a grab lunch (crackers, fruit, gummies and cheese) with a sandwich the second day.

Dinner– I am trying to stick to my goal of leaving work by 5:30 daily so I can eat with the family most nights.

Saturday- Lunch: leftovers .   Dinner- Pizza Bread-Pop Up

Sunday- Lunch- Taco Soup .  Dinner-Leftovers .

Monday- Grilled Chicken salad (Leftovers make awesome wraps for me for lunch) Pasta Salad
Tuesday- Breakfast- Bacon, Eggs and Biscuits
Wednesday-Pork Chops, stove top stuffing and fruit
Thursday-  Crockpot Beef Roast
Friday- Hamburger Helper.

Monday Menu Planning

Posted on by
Reply

Breakfast– French toast, toast with new jelly, cereal, poptarts or grits. Zach has been grabbing applesauce or canned fruit for breakfast as well. Keeping it simple this week!  Saturday morning, Matt made biscuits and gravy, Sunday morning- baked oatmeal.

Lunch- The kids will be taking Lunchables everyday. I am headed to a conference on Friday so I will grab leftovers or even a Lunchable this week?

Dinner– I am trying to stick to my goal of leaving work by 5:30 daily so I can eat with the family most nights.

Saturday- Lunch: BBQ chicken pizza .   Dinner- Layered Taco Salad.

Sunday- Lunch- Spaghetti Lasagna .  Dinner-Leftovers or sandwhiches.

Monday- Country Style Steak, Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes, corn and Mandarin orange salad
Tuesday- Chicken Fried Rice
Wednesday-Chicken nuggets, FF and fruit
Thursday-  ?? Sheila decides or leftovers
Friday- Pizza rolls

Menu Planning Monday

Posted on by
Reply

Menu planning is usually not all that difficulty at my house. The main reason for this is that we are always trying to make and package items that make life simpler and easier to survive. For example, when we buy hamburger, part of it is cooked and frozen in 1 pound containers, these can be used for spaghetti, chill or even hamburger helper. This past weekend, I have been focusing on cooking ahead. Breakfast items have been made and place in the fridge for easy quick mornings. I made “Breakfast Burrito filling” on Saturday morning and a large container of baked oatmeal on Sunday. We cooked up several bags of dried beans because they are so much healthier and cheaper than canned beans. On Sunday, we picked 2 gallons of ripe muscadines.  I made a batch of jelly, frozen 8 cups of whole muscadine and made a second “starter” for more jelly. Sometimes by spreading the extra work out it makes it easier and we definitely eat better and spend less.

Now on to the menu plan

Breakfast-Breakfast burritos, baked oatmeal, French toast, toast with new jelly, cereal, poptarts or grits.

Lunch- The kids will be taking Lunchables everyday, I will take leftovers Monday, Wednesday and Friday with a sandwich on Tuesday. Matt will be eating from the fridge or sandwich every day.

Dinner– I am trying to stick to my goal of leaving work by 5:30 daily so I can eat with the family most nights.

Saturday- Lunch: Coconut shrimp and grilled pineapple.   Dinner- Chicken Enchiladas

Sunday- Lunch- with my parents.  Dinner-out of the fridge.

Monday- Spaghetti with meatballs and garlic bread.
Tuesday- Grilled Chicken salad
Wednesday-Pulled pork, green beans and fruit
Thursday-  Sonic corn dogs ($0.50 each)
Friday- Cowboy beans and cucumber relish from the freezer.

Saving on Saturday- Vacation

Posted on by
1

sos

I really do enjoy travelling and especially enjoyed our vacation this year if you could not tell by all the pictures. One reason, that I was able to enjoy our vacation this year is because of the fact that we actually spent overall less on a week at the beach than we have spent on a long weekend trip. So today, I am going to share some tips that I used this year to not only save money but also to make this trip so enjoyable.

The first and most important tip is PLAN AHEAD!.  I booked our condo in January this year in order to get the specific week that I wanted for the rate we could easily afford. But I actually started buying for the trip back in November 2014. CVS usually runs some awesome Black Friday sales, starting the Sunday before Thanksgiving, for the past several years these have included laundry detergent for free after ECB.  I am pretty brand loyal, but in this case, I carried the free laundry detergent home and placed in a plastic container. During our beach trip, we typically come in from the beach and toss all suits and towels in the wash. My thoughts are free is good enough as long as it helps to remove the sand. Other items that I find on good deals (usually $0.75 or less) include hand soap, toilet paper, dishwasher tablet and dishwashing liquid.

The next way that I plan ahead for our vacation is meal planning. I know there are a few meals that the entire family loves and so if I am making one of these I will just make two and place the second in the deep freezer to take to the beach. Our plan ahead meals this year included baked ziti, chicken and broccoli casserole and gravy biscuits. If I find a good deal on a special snack food that we like I will also go ahead and purchase that as well. This year these items included goldfish crackers, Oreos and  Kit Kat Minis.  I also do the same with paper plates, cups and silverware. The condo does have a dishwasher but I prefer the paper for the convenience.

Another way that we save money is by saving and reusing certain items year after year.  I have a 20 year collection of sand toys that I store in a large bag in our building. Each year we take it with us to the beach. Some years we come back with less sand toys as if they break they are thrown away at the beach. We also have purchased a beach cart, umbrella and several chairs that are specifically for beach use. It may seem like a lot of trouble to carry these items back and forth but in the big picture it continues to save us money as we don’t purchase new items unless they are needed.

A finally way that we save money on vacation is by increasing the temperature of our house to 82* and turning off/unplugging anything possible. Our electric bill dropped by $30 this month in comparison to last month with the only difference being our vacation week. We also saw a $5 decrease in our water bill which is a direct result of less laundry.

How have you been saving money this week?

Menu Plan Monday

Posted on by
Reply

imageSide note…yes I plan to include random pictures from the beach with each post,just because it is fun!

One of the ways that we are able to afford our vacation is by planning ahead. The focus of this beach trip is the beach, which for us means alot of playing in the sand and water. The condo we stay at is at least a 10 minute drive from   any resturants or stores so we plan ahead and usually only eat out a couple of times.

The menu looks  a little different this week because we actually plan a little bit more.

Lunch- “Lunchable” and sandwhiches on the beach.

 

Sunday- Breakfast- Cracker Barrel    Lunch- Steak and Shake Dinner-Pimento cheese sandwhiches
Monday- Breakfast- gravy and biscuits, Dinner- PF Changs for my birthday.
Tuesday- Breakfast- Donuts, DInner- Mexician feast.
Wednesday-Breakfast- Sausage cresant rolls, Dinner- Baked ZIti
Thursday- Breakfast-poptart/ cereal. DInner- Hot Dogs
Friday- Breakfast- Eggs, bacon, toast.  Dinner: Chicken and Broccli
Saturday- Breakfast- Poptart/Toast/cereal.  Dinner:  Seafood out or left-overs

Monday Menu Planning 08/03/2015

Posted on by
Reply

After begin so far over budget last month, you would expect us to have lots of food and items to choose from. Unfortunately, this is not the case, mainly because of the way I shop.  We are heading on vacation  next weekend and my plan is to not shop for groceries until after our return. This should help reduce/contain the bill for August. So this week is about using fresh items and cleaning out the pantry so to speak.

Breakfast-Cereal, Poptarts, grits, French  toast, breakfast burritos and maybe some baked Oatmeal to help.

Lunch- Leftovers, sandwiches, dipping day at least once. I made a batch of egg salad and chicken salad on Saturday so sandwiches are the main choice for the week. If needed we have bowls of Mac and Cheese as well as crackers that could be come lunch easily.

Dinner– Focus on smaller meals with little to no leftovers to toss.

Saturday- Lunch: Egg Salad and Chicken salad on Ritz crackers, because we had no bread.   Dinner- Pasta salad with pork, watermelon cantaloupe..

Sunday- Lunch- Cowboy beans.  Dinner-Chicken salad sandwich on fresh sour dough bread.
Monday- Pork chops, potato salad, cantaloupe and cucumber relish
Tuesday- Roast with carrots, onions and fresh fruit.
Wednesday-Hamburger Helper
Thursday-  Layer Taco Salad
Friday- Falafas in crockpot and/or leftovers.

Currently we have about 1/4 a gallon of milk left and are out of several of the kids favorite foods but they are leaning to eat what is on hand. I am hoping to grab an awesome deal on lunchables to use when school starts so at least they have something to look forward to.

Saving on Saturday-August 1st

Posted on by
Reply

sosTarget is one of my favorite stores to shop. I love combining sales and other special deals. This week was an awesome week to stock up on drinks and purchase jeans. I actually received a text message from Target asking me to combine a sale with a 35% off cartwheel of sodas.. I was able to purchase 4 12 packs of Diet Coke, 1- 12 pack of Coke and 8 bottles of Diet Coke for $13.00 or $2.16 each. These will come in hand on our upcoming  Beach trip. Matt requested we grab some “Crystal Lite” packs as well. They were also on sale. Prior to making the trip, I ordered 105 K-cups, they were on sale at Buy Two, Get one Free with an additional 10% off for store pick up, the individual cost of $0.33 each. The final great deal at Target was jeans for both girls, on sale for $10 with an additional 5% using my Target card, which is connect to my regular account.

Shopping is not the only way that I am saving money this week. We are planning our annual trip to the Beach next week. In the past, we have been able to stock up on “Lunchables” to use most days on the beach. This has not been the case so far this year. I have decided that it would make the most sense to make a huge batch of sour dough rolls next week, bake and use these as our ‘sandwich bread” Today, my goal is to make egg salad, and chicken salad to use for these meals. I will also be make a big bowl of pasta salad to take as our meal to the pool this afternoon.

Menu planning and working out  a laundry schedule for the week to maximize the use of our clothes line should round out the day.

 

5 Things Friday

Posted on by
Reply
  1.  Amanda took Kendall to Chunky cheese today to celebrate her birthday! Looks like they had fun..IMG_3614.JPG
  2. We have purchased new living room furniture. Matt picked up a new television stand last night and we should receive the new couch we ordered sometime next week. I will post pictures once I figure out where everything is going.
  3. The county swim meet is exactly one week away. I am one of the organizers for the event. Matt and I spent 7 hours yesterday working on printing and tying up loose ends. I am so excited to see the girls swim but also ready to get some of my time back.
  4. We did not stick to our menu plan at all this week. But we are trying to use the veggie from the garden on a daily basis.
  5. Our new budget is working so far. I especially like having cash for quick grocery store trips. I made sure to count and thing about my purchases before making them with cash.

 

Sunday Menu Planning and other Random thoughts

Posted on by
Reply

I have really enjoy this 4 day break. One of the main things that has happened is that I am finally caught up.  This upcoming week is a relativity slow one for us. Cheerleading is on vacation, so the kids have swim team practice each day and piano on Friday. My work is also slowing down as everyone (all 3 of us) are working this week a regular schedule so I should be able to get home early most days. As I posted earlier, we are growing the stockpile which means lots to choose from when menu planning.

Breakfast-Cereal, Poptarts, grits, toast and breakfast burritos at least one day.

Lunch- Salad (lettuce is already prepared, tomato and cucumbers from garden), sandwiches, hot dogs or left-overs. I am really encouraging Matt and the kids to eat sandwiches or left overs this week so that we can not waste any food.

Dinner– The exciting news here is that I should be able to eat most night with everyone prior to swim practice! First time all summer.

Saturday- Lunch: Potato salad, Mandarin salad, pasta salad, watermelon.   Dinner- Potluck at the pool.

Sunday- Lunch- Leftovers from the week including Chinese, steak or salads from yesterday.  Dinner- Pimento cheese and bacon sandwich on sour dough bread.

Monday- Grilled chicken, sides will be leftovers from the weekend.
Tuesday- Falafel in the crockpot. The plan is to wrap these up and eat at the swim meet.
Wednesday-Salisbury steak, rice and watermelon.
Thursday-  Options include leftovers, shrimp or chicken nachos . (I will make the decision Wednesday night based on what the refrigerator is looking like and my mood.)
Friday- Pork chops, veggie and fruit.

With our garden in full production, the goal is to freeze a small amount each day, eat as much as we want for lunches and not waste any food!